Pakistanis take their cricket seriously. Following Pakistan’s crushing defeat at the hands of West Indies on Saturday, cricket fans in the country reacted in typical fashion. Some staged mock funerals while others took to social media to express their distaste and disgust with not just the team but also other entities they felt were equally responsible.
It seems like fans weren’t happy with how the team turned out. Some started out with the hashtag #SelfiesDestroyedCricket to take a swing at the players that never managed to perform. And others trended #WeWantMilitaryCricketBoard to highlight how the current management is getting Pakistan’s cricket nowhere.
A twitter user called SaadiaBukhari took to twitter to vent out against Najam Sethi. “12 out of 35 punctures of Najam Sethi are currently playing for Pakistan in #ICCWorldCup2015” she wrote while mocking a term he himself coined.
Another user called Nabeel A. Qadeer tweeted, “Thank you najam sethi for completely ruining our #cricket. May you continue to ruin more institutions in this country. Amen.”
Some tried to bring some sense to the situation and stay objective. Anthony Permal tweeted, “People are blaming Najam Sethi. Forgetting the number of seasoned talented players on the field who failed stupidly.”
Najam Sethi seems to have come under fire for things that can’t even be directly linked to him.
Abdul Nishapuri wrote, “#ShameOnNajamSethi LeJ terrorists released, Ahmadis attacked, Christians persecuted, elections rigged.” Thankfully, unlike the ‘Thanks Obama’ posts, Sethi’s notoriety will likely not grow anymore than this.
Sethi meanwhile has remained quiet over the issue, choosing to ignore most of the hate.
Of course Najam Sethi wasn’t the only one who got a piece of hate from cricket fans in the country. Some of them realised that he hasn’t been the PCB chairman for a while and directed their ire towards Shahryar Khan who currently holds the position.
It seems that Khan is thought to be equally incompetent by the Twitterati.
Saad Shafqat wrote,”@Waqaas1 Shahryar Khan is a nawabzada and a diplomat who has lived a life of privilege. He doesn’t know anything.”
Muzaffar Abbas, another user, thought Khan should take responsibility. “@iramabbasi After this terrible defeat by Windies, Shahryar Khan should resign, taking responsibility,” he said.
Some of our friends from the other side of the border also found Pakistan’s loss amusing.
Vijayaraghvan wrote, “#PAKvWI ICC World Cup: Pakistan will bounce back from India loss, says Shahryar Khan?? What a bounce back!! Ha ha.”
There were quite a few who held both the former and current chairman equally responsible.
Nadia Khattak wrote, “Lakh Lakh Lanat on Najam Sethi and Shahryar Khan for destroying #PakistaniCricketTeam . #WC2015 chances are over. Time for heads to roll.”
It remains to be seen what will become of the two men if Pakistan loses its next match. At present not many are hoping that the team will be able to win any grand accolades in the game this year.